Longest, most complex, and probably best written Rebus book so far (reading them in order of course). ( )

In this, the Rebus books move into a higher gear in my opinion. Rebus is suffering the consequences of his principled stand in 'Let It Bleed' where he gave up his chance of promotion to a despised self-serving colleague in order to bring corrupt politicians to justice. As punishment he has been sent to a rundown station which is in the throes of closing to move to a new building. His boss there is pretty laid back: just as well, given how Rebus frequently goes off to pursue his own agendas.

Firstly, he is trying to solve the suspicious death of a man who worked on an offshore oil rig, and secondly he has become obsessed with the late 1960s (this book was published in the late 1990s) serial killer named Bible John by the media. This is due to the fact that another killer is now operating, as a copycat, and has been dubbed Johnny Bible by the same media. Unlike his bosses, Rebus is convinced (rightly as it turns out) that Bible John is still alive and may be active again, drawn out by his 'offspring'.

In this book Rebus goes through more physical punishment than I can recall in others and also undergoes an emotional breakdown in which he faces how severe his drink problem has become. Also, for the first time as far as I'm aware, sections of the book switch to the point of view of another character. I won't say who it is to avoid spoilers, but it added another layer as the reader is aware of how close Rebus is coming to his quarry - and how he may be putting himself in danger by doing so. Meanwhile, his investigation into the oilman's death also puts him in hazardous situations, not least because of his obviously shown suspicion that certain police are in the pocket of a Glaswegian crime boss.

Rebus roams widely across Scotland in this book, spending a lot of time away from Edinburgh and it's an interesting perspective on other areas and other police forces. All in all, I enjoyed the book so much and thought the complexity paid off this time and didn't bog down, as it did in the preceding book, so I am awarding it 5 stars. ( )

3.5* Better than average but not really my preferred style of police procedural mystery - Rebus has too many problems which makes me feel tired and depressed... but the actual mystery/detection part of the book was excellent. ( )

DI John Rebus is caught up in cases past and present: a serial killer dubbed “Johnny Bible” is murdering young women, in an echo of a serial killer some 20 years ago named by the papers “Bible John” because he quoted from the Bible before killing his prey, also young women. At the same time, a worker on an oil platform in the North Sea has died while on leave, in a case that involves villains from Rebus’s past. He has been sidelined by his superiors yet again, but that will not stop him from pursuing his leads, wherever they may take him…. I started this novel, the eighth in the series, feeling quite fed up with Rebus - he is sinking deeper into alcoholism, has alienated just about everybody in his world and still can’t seem to stop himself from chasing whatever leads his sometimes-addled mind throws up. But then there comes a passage like this: “I’m a peeper, he thought, a voyeur. All cops are. But he knew he was more than that: he liked to get involved in the lives around him. He had a need to know which went beyond voyeurism. It was a drug. And the thing was, when he had all this knowledge, he then had to use booze to blank it out. He saw his reflection in the window, two-dimensional, ghostly. I’m almost not here at all, he thought.” That sort of insight into his own behaviour again brings me back into sympathy with the character. While the complex plot is engaging, and the late 1990s politics of oil is well described, it is the character of this very flawed human being that makes this series so compelling; recommended, after all. ( )

I always enjoy the Rebus novels, and this one was no exception. There is a change of scene in this book because Rebus spends a lot of time in Aberdeen and also in Glasgow and on the Shetland Islands. He is following several cases and one of them is connected to the oil industry, so he even visits an oil rig. All these settings were extremely fascinating to me!
I also thought that this book was very well written and I like the development of Rebus as a character, who reflects a little more on the world and his role in it, and on his work in the police. The cases were exciting, too, although once again it was difficult for me to keep all the men in this novel sorted (all the criminals as well as the policemen - there are just too many characters and they are too alike!). Another thing that I did not like was that the middle part felt a bit lengthy and I think it could have been shorter.
Apart from that this was a very good read and I am looking forward to the next Rebus novel, although I think I will turn to other series in the months to come as this was such a lengthy one. ( )